Tech Layoffs Are Back With A Vengeance

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In my post this week, I told how a former colleague of mine posed as an AI-powered spam bot and tricked me. Conclusion: Artificial intelligence is often used for positive purposes, but increasingly it is used for malicious purposes. Of course, AI-based spam will be interesting very soon: some artificial AIs are good enough to mimic humans. So what happens if every spam message is personalized and different from every other spam message? Things are going to get a lot worse before we can hope to get better.

Last week I gave you a tour of the strengths and weaknesses of the startup world.

You are back from layoff.

As Alex wrote last month, layoffs in the tech industry are far from a thing of the past. I shouldn't have told you, man, that you are deceived.

Despite signs of economic recovery and predictions of an economic recession, tech companies continue to lay off workers. In October, Nokia announced it would lay off 14,000 workers after a quarter in which profits fell 69 percent, while other major tech companies announced major layoffs, including Qualcomm, Qualtrics and LinkedIn. Experts say that although the economy is improving, the recovery process is slow, which forces many companies to prepare for a prolonged recession. Additionally, the shift in investor mindset from growth to efficiency has led to cost-cutting measures, including job cuts. These trends, combined with tighter purchasing budgets and slower sales cycles, are likely to continue to impact the technology sector through 2024.

Product Hunt Cuts Staff: Tech startup Product Hunt has cut about 60% of its team, including positions in design, manufacturing and sales of software and tools. The cuts were made for "strategic reasons," Sarah reported.

Stack Overflow : Stack Overflow, a developer community site owned by Process, has announced a 28% reduction in its workforce as part of an initiative to improve profitability. The company did not specify the exact number of workers affected. Ivan writes that artificial intelligence seems to be responsible.

Don't miss our complete guide: The tech sector will be hit hard by 240,000 job cuts by 2023, a 50% increase over last year. Tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, Meta, and Zoom, as well as several startups, have announced massive job cuts. Here's our complete guide.

Terror and victory in transportation

Image credits: Tesla

The 2023 Rebel Rally, a 2,120km long all-women off-road and touring event, has become a proven venue for production cars, including electric vehicles. Ten of the 65 teams competing in the eighth annual rally were electric vehicles, including four Rivian R1T cars, marking the entry of electric vehicles into the typically low-tech event. The Rivian team took first place in the 4x4 category, for the first time an all-electric vehicle took the podium.

Meanwhile, Tesla released its third quarter earnings report. And it wasn't pretty, with the report showing a gross margin decline to 17.9% from last year's 25.1%. This resulted in a 44% decrease in profits (yes). Tesla's long-awaited Cybertruck begins its first deliveries, with Elon Musk warning it will take 18 months to become profitable.

It was also a day of uproar for self-driving taxis, as Cruz's license to operate as a robotaxi was added: The California Public Utilities Commission (CPC) suspended Cruz's license to operate and charge for robotaxi services in San Francisco. DMV. . The DMV suspension comes after Cruz allegedly withheld footage from an investigation of a pedestrian being hit and dragged by his own vehicle. Cruz has denied the claims. The ban comes three months after the company has given the necessary permission to charge for vehicles. This has led to growing opposition to robotics in Los Angeles.

Learn more about transportation startups:

All up to Tesla level: Toyota and Lexus plan to implement Tesla Chargers (NACS) for their electric vehicles from 2025. The only major automakers that have yet to adopt NACS are VW and Stellar, but with Tesla's move toward building a regular, conversion could be imminent, Harry reports.

On the road : Pebble unveiled a prototype of its flagship product, the Pebbleflow, an all-electric travel trailer designed for digital nomads. A 25-foot trailer that seats up to four people can be pre-ordered for $109,000 for a $500 rebate. An upgraded version including a dual-motor drivetrain is available for $125,000, Kirsten reports.

Moore's Tesla legal woes: Tesla faces renewed scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice over its line of electric cars, employee decisions and company benefits. This comes after an investigation suggested that Tesla overestimated the size of the electric car, Kirsten reported.

Who is growing and why?

Image credits: Getty Images

I My Data (IOMD), a startup founded by ex-PayPal executive Rohan Mahadevan, aims to revolutionize online shopping by eliminating the need for consumers to create a new account with every purchase, reports Mary Ann. IOMD's Node platform enables consumers to manage and store all their online interactions, purchases and profiles on their devices. Crossroads exited with $2.75 million in seed funding. The startup emphasized that it is not a payments company, but a data company that stores users' personal information for instant transactions.

Navan (formerly known as TripAction), a fintech startup focused on expense management, is partnering with Citi to offer a shared ride and expense system for Citi business cardholders, reports Mary Ann. This partnership is a big deal, especially since Citi is the third largest in the United States, with more than 25,000 business card programs worldwide and 7 million cardholders, according to recent spending reports. In other news, Darrell went RV shopping this week and loved it. He is truly an extraordinary man.

FFS, that's not even a rounding error: Black founders in the U.S. raised just 0.13% of the capital committed to startups in the third quarter, below $1 billion raised in the third quarter of 2022. The trend hasn't changed. Despite the efforts made since 2020. Dominique-Madori reports.

Previous: Oh My God Tucker Carlson, the controversial former Fox News host, plans to launch a media startup called Last Nation after a $15 million investment, Rebecca reports.

That's a lot of money, yes: Global investment firm KKR has announced the final close of its third technology growth fund, with a capital commitment of about $3 billion. The group targets companies with strong long-term growth prospects and typically writes checks for $50 million to $250 million, Coney said.

Best read on TechCrunch this week

Building Personal AI: ZenML, an open source AI framework, helps companies build their own personal AI models, reducing their reliance on API providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The Munich-based startup has raised $6.4 million since its inception.

Hell, Let's Build It Ourselves: For TC+, Ron delved into why Monday.com, a company that offers a suite of flexible business tools, designed a MondayDB database solution to meet the needs of a unique client.

WebSummit drama continues: WebSummit founder and CEO Paddy Cosgeb has resigned amid controversy over Israel and Palestine. Cosgrave still owns 80% of the company despite his resignation. Conference organizers have confirmed that the 2023 Web Summit in Lisbon and February 2024 in Qatar will go ahead as planned.

Google workers seek 'psychological validation' from their bosses after mass layoffs #shorttime | New York Post